Chapter 275

The Judge's sudden shift from arrogance to obsequiousness was because he clearly grasped the current situation.

After all, the geographical advantage they had painstakingly set up was now completely in the hands of their opponent.

This was no longer a case of lifting a rock only to drop it on one's own feet; it was as if they had personally put on chains they had forged themselves and locked them with a shackle.

Who could have imagined that the opponent would understand their own inheritance system better than they did?

Therefore, this battle was simply impossible to fight.

However, Li Zhuiyuan had no intention of negotiating at all.

If not for the protection of the one beneath the peach forest, the opponent would have already entered Nantong.

Even so, that still did not change the fact that they were being blocked at their own doorstep.

This account had to be settled.

Liu Yumei's reactions at certain moments might seem excessive to ordinary people, but she truly understood the Jianghu; she knew better than anyone that if you did not provide a thunderous response to so-called provocations, you would face endless trouble thereafter.

The young man did not like trouble.

Except for Runsheng, who remained unmoved while shielding Li Zhuiyuan, everyone else immediately lunged toward the nearest commander or general.

The Judge at the head of the table threw another command token upward and shouted, "Rise for me!"

The four commanders and eight generals below exerted their strength collectively once more, attempting to rise in coordination.

Li Zhuiyuan's gaze fell upon his right palm; blood mist surged rapidly, injecting itself into the formation flag, and he said in a deep voice:

"Suppress!"

"Hum."

The efforts of the four commanders and eight generals were declared a failure once again, and they all sat back down in their chairs.

They were soul bodies, and this kind of miasma was originally used to suppress existences like them; its effect on people of the yang realm was relatively weaker.

Of course, that was on the condition that you didn't get so scared upon seeing this formation that your legs went weak and you knelt down immediately.

Zhao Yi arrived before a Ghost Commander. Compared to a Ghost General, the Ghost Commander, in addition to his original armor, had an extra cape, a commander's flag on the chair's armrest, and a precious sword hanging behind him.

At this moment, the Ghost Commander's body was still trembling violently, meaning he was still fiercely resisting this miasma.

Zhao Yi flicked his sleeve, and an ancient silver mirror fell into his palm; his right hand formed a seal, while his left hand gripped the mirror.

First, he used a technique to break the barrier in front of the Ghost Commander, then he pressed the silver mirror against the opponent's forehead.

"Yin and Yang, Five Elements, Mountain Ghost opens the path, break the formation and emerge, life and death have no fortune."

The silver mirror began to spin and gradually projected a luster.

This luster came from within the Ghost Commander's body.

The "Mountain Ghost Path-Opening Technique" was not a rare art; it was widely circulated in the Jianghu. As the name suggests, its original meaning was to seek assistance from local mountain ghosts and spirits through a "barter" method, which could also be understood as a form of paying protection money when lost or caught in a trap.

But ordinary techniques could be played in different ways by different people. That silver mirror was itself a great artifact that could be used for amplification, and Zhao Yi used it as a conduit to extract the Ghost Commander's original soul power, which was equivalent to "bloodletting" the Ghost Commander.

Thick ghost qi surged out; this was high-quality ghost qi that the Ghost Commander had absorbed and refined himself, completely different from the usual goods.

Diagonally ahead, Bai He Guarding Zhenjun, who was currently dealing with a Ghost General, subconsciously took a deep breath, his face revealing intoxication.

Bai He Tongzi's previous incarnation was a Ghost King, and even after becoming an Yin God and later transforming into the Guarding Zhenjun system, he still retained his own independence.

The Tongzi needed this kind of refined soul power; for Him, it was a great tonic.

It was just that everyone was busy eliminating opponents at the moment, so the Tongzi naturally couldn't run off to eat.

Moreover, everyone's methods were generally simple and crude; being able to successfully crack a coconut violently was already good enough. Only Zhao Yi could open a hole and insert a straw to draw out the coconut water.

Zhao Yi noticed this, tore open his own clothes, and exposed the peach blossom on his chest; the pure ghost qi that was gushing out turned and merged into this peach blossom.

The conspicuous peach blossom began to turn deep, and along with it, Zhao Yi's complexion also sank.

He himself could not consume this ghost qi; gathering it into his body only increased his own burden.

But for the sake of Lin Shu You, he did it anyway.

The Ghost Commander watched this "takeout dining" behavior of the opponent, so angry that the skin on his face almost stuck together.

"How dare you fight me fairly!"

A dignified Ghost Commander truly had a high status in the Yin Office; usually, it was he who felt like "skinning, pulling tendons, and throwing into oil pans" other ghosts. How could he have imagined that he would one day become meat on a chopping block?

Zhao Yi laughed: "You say that as if you intended to fight fairly from the start. It seems you didn't conduct yourself properly when you were alive, and you don't reason after becoming a ghost."

After mocking him, Zhao Yi rubbed his ten fingers, muttered to himself, and then placed both hands on the back of the Ghost Commander's head, pressing down with all ten fingers at once!

The light on the silver mirror became even more intense; the Ghost Commander made a painful sound in his throat, and the soul power within his body spilled out in an even more rapid manner.

The true bodies of the four commanders and eight generals were not here; they were all drawing on their own soul power, using found skeletons as a medium.

Theoretically, they could be defeated; after the skeletons collapsed, the remaining soul bodies could at most return, and the cost would be nothing more than a heavy injury to their true bodies.

But Zhao Yi's "water-drawing" method almost gave the Ghost Commander no chance to withdraw. Once all the soul power that came out this time was lost, the price their true bodies would pay would no longer be a heavy injury, but a demotion in rank.

Dropping from a Ghost Commander back to an ordinary wandering ghost—although they didn't "die," this was even harder to accept than killing them.

The Ghost Commander sensed the severity of this; at this moment, he could no longer care about maintaining his dignity and quickly said:

"I can admit defeat, you can stop, and if we meet in the Yin Office in the future, I will surely return the favor!"

Zhao Yi: "Is this the attitude of someone asking for help? Why does it sound like a threat?"

Ghost Commander: "I have many colleagues and friends. If you do this today, aren't you afraid of suffering a calamity later? When you maintain your lifespan and life and death are dim, be careful of Yin messengers coming to your door to claim your life!"

Zhao Yi: "Heh, don't try to fool people. Fengdou is indeed an earthly kingdom of dead souls, but when did Fengdou represent reincarnation? I will walk the path of dying of old age in the future; I have no interest in hanging around as a lonely ghost."

Just being a person, just doing the work of a person, not coveting or fussing over those things that don't matter—one can truly achieve a state of being unyielding through lack of desire.

Therefore, even with all the techniques and methods of the past Dragon Kings, they basically would not go to break the shackles of normal lifespan.

Ghost Commander: "I will surely curse you to the oil pan, experiencing the eighteen layers..."

Zhao Yi: "Noisy!"

His ten fingers exerted force, like milking a cow, and a large amount of ghost qi sprayed out.

Half of the peach blossom petal on Zhao Yi's chest had turned black, making him feel nauseous all over.

Fortunately, this Ghost Commander was finally squeezed dry.

Not only could he no longer maintain his form and retreat back to the skeleton, but the skeleton itself also turned into powder.

To be honest, this feeling of an enemy being unable to move and letting you harvest them is truly physically and mentally pleasurable.

Also, this Ghost Commander threatened the wrong person. Zhao Yi was indeed saving milk for Lin Shu You.

But even if he didn't do this, the miasma in this perimeter was already controlled by the one surnamed Li; how could he possibly give this group of commander and general soul bodies a chance to return to Fengdou?

The one surnamed Li would rather pour the milk into the river!

One solved, move on to the next.

Except for Zhao Yi, everyone else headed for the Ghost Generals, because everyone knew their own limits.

The one who knew his limits best was Runsheng; he knew he had no way to deal with these soul bodies, so he simply stayed behind to protect Xiaoyuan and didn't go at all.

Even so, Zhao Yi's efficiency remained the highest.

"Surnamed Li, lend me the artifact of the Zhao ancestors!"

This loud shout was filled with bitterness.

That ancestor's copper coin sword was the most comfortable for Zhao Yi to use, but he had to borrow it every time.

Li Zhuiyuan was not stingy; he took out a handful of copper coins and tossed them to Zhao Yi.

The young man had to continue suppressing this miasma and confronting the Judge; the matter of weeding out the Ghost Commanders still had to rely on Zhao Yi taking the lead.

With the copper coins in hand, a flick of the wrist, and it immediately became a sword.

"Surnamed Li, I might really embezzle this sword!"

"Try it."

"I'm truly tempted, I want to try, look if I dare!"

"You dare?"

"Don't threaten me. Even if I really took your sword, what could you do about it?"

After seeing the spirit tablets of the Qin and Liu families and getting pointers after kowtowing to Old Lady Liu, Zhao Yi's mindset had changed significantly.

Those old immortals in the family were already on his list of people to be cleared out in the future. If the old immortals were willing to be discarded, what was there to be reluctant about regarding the so-called Zhao family treasury?

If he continued to stare only at those bottles and jars, and the vision of the family continued to shallow generation after generation, how could the Zhao family possibly produce another Long Wang?

It would be better to really take this copper coin sword and give the one surnamed Li an excuse to stroll through his own treasury. Given the nature of the one surnamed Li—who would always return things twice over on an equivalent basis if he took your things—trading wealth for cultivation techniques was really not a loss; after all, you couldn't buy the latter at all.

With the copper coin sword in hand, facing the next Ghost Commander was much simpler.

First, pierce the copper coin sword into the Ghost Commander's brow. The artifact that once belonged to a Long Wang was specifically designed to restrain evil spirits. Although this Ghost Commander had an Yin Office establishment, he was ultimately not like Bai He Tongzi, who had washed his sins away and come ashore to become an Yin God.

In an instant, white smoke rose, and a hole opened in the forehead.

The silver mirror was inserted, white light was released violently, and the Ghost Commander's body trembled more intensely.

Zhao Yi placed the copper coin sword on the back of the Ghost Commander's head and struck continuously, accelerating the process.

Practice makes perfect; Zhao Yi was becoming more and more adept at roasting Ghost Commanders.

It was just that the peach blossom on his chest had turned completely black, and Zhao Yi's lips were gradually turning purple.

However, he had not reached his limit yet; the peach blossom was black, but the heart inside was still red, which meant there was still room to continue darkening.

Lin Shu You had just finished dealing with the first Ghost General; the method was much more brutal: first use the double maces to break its carrier, then have the Tongzi perform techniques to suppress and kill its soul body.

Before the Ghost General's soul body collapsed, it roared in question:

"You and I are of the same kind, why the mutual slaughter!"

Before the Tongzi could answer, the Ghost General collapsed.

When he started on the second Ghost General, it said: "We are all ghosts..."

The Tongzi, who had been holding back a belly full of anger from the previous one, finally got a chance to release it and directly scolded back: "I am ashamed to be associated with you!"

Ghost General: "It's just becoming an Yin God..."

Tongzi: "I am ashamed to be associated with Yin Gods!"

Ghost General: "Then what exactly are you now?"

Lin Shu You: "Under the seat of Li, the corpse-salvager of Nantong—Bai He Guarding Zhenjun!"

The double maces were sacrificed again, and he smashed down with all his might.

In this, there was a bit of an intention to draw a line with his own unrestrained past self.

Tan Wenbin faced the Ghost General in front of him, closing his eyes and spreading his hands.

Centipedes, monkeys, rhinoceroses, pythons—these phantoms were all clinging to the Ghost General's face at this moment, frantically destroying its perception.

The speed was relatively slow, but the progress was very steady.

A person would be worse off than dead after being reduced to a human stick; once a soul body had all its perceptions wiped away, it naturally could not maintain itself.

Strands of messy ghost qi continuously spilled out from the Ghost General; the more ghost qi spilled, the weaker the struggle became.

The Liang sisters, Liang Yan and Liang Li, did not separate; the two chose to join forces to break the Ghost General's soul body barrier with a formation, and then drove silver nails into the soul general's body one by one.

After the silver nails were set, they triggered the second layer of "skinning" and then applied silver needles.

The sisters were like peeling an onion, peeling the Ghost General layer by layer until it completely disintegrated.

This efficiency was second only to their boss, Zhao Yi.

"Ah!!!"

"Wait a moment, this time it wasn't mixed right, wait for me to remix it."

The Ghost General who fell before Yin Meng was the most miserable.

Others were either punched solidly or disintegrated cleanly; only he had to face new poison mixtures time and time again.

This feeling of being tied to a chair and forced to taste a grand feast was truly incomparably agonizing.

It just so happened that Yin Meng's touch was very poor today; after several mixtures, none of them had any effect, failing to send the person away in one go, and even making the Ghost General Lord miserable.

"Have you forgotten your own surname!"

"You are an Yin family member!"

"How can you do this!"

What was even more frustrating was that this Ghost General could not curse and swear before death like the other commanders and generals, because Yin Meng was truly surnamed "Yin."

Even if his soul power was completely buried here and his true body in Fengdou was demoted to a wandering ghost, he would very likely become an object of torture for his former colleagues because of his insults to an Yin family member today, in order to draw a line with himself.

Yin Meng: "You know what my surname is, you know which family I belong to, yet you still dare to block me at the door of my new home!"

Ghost General: "..."

As the only contemporary bloodline of the Yin family, the Judge's attitude of bowing to her earlier indicated that she should have certain privileges in this wave, at least a degree of differentiation.

But the more people gave her this, the less she dared to want it; Yin Meng knew exactly where her roots lay.

Back when she was in Fengdou, her father was murdered, her grandfather was paralyzed and comatose, and she never saw the ancestors manifest, nor did she see any ghost messenger send her any pension subsidies. The welfare and care she truly enjoyed were from the neighborhood office reducing part of the rent for her family of an orphan girl and a paralyzed old man every season.

Now, asking her to stand from the perspective of the Yin Office and the so-called "Yin family members" to think about problems—how could that be possible?

Furthermore, Yin Meng had always known that she was just an Yin family bloodline accessory; in terms of closeness, Brother Xiaoyuan was the true successor of the ancestors.

It was Brother Xiaoyuan who ordered the killing of these ghost grandsons; did her, Yin Meng's, attitude matter?

"Clatter..."

The latest mixture was done. It was unknown whether it was the accumulation of the previous effects or if this time she really got the correct formula, but in short, this Ghost General began to dissolve rapidly, and in the end, even the white bones turned into pus.

Yin Meng looked at the knife hanging behind the chair and reached out to take it, but as soon as it was in her hand, the knife turned into a piece of bamboo.

Clearly, they hadn't really brought their weapons out; the weapons on the chairs were all like the technique-based tridents that Bai He Tongzi liked to condense back then.

Yin Meng walked to the next Ghost General. On the short road, Yin Meng kept muttering to herself while walking, and her hands kept gesturing.

She was remembering the feeling of the previous mixture, maintaining her touch.

After the next Ghost General saw her, he let out a sharp whistle:

"Miss Yin!!!"

Yin Meng was startled, and the feeling from just a moment ago vanished.

"Miss Yin, how can you help the evildoer and fail to distinguish friend from foe!"

Yin Meng: "You asked for it, don't complain that I'm slow, I'll continue to find the feeling and mix it slowly."

The Judge at the head of the table could only watch helplessly as his subordinates were weeded out one by one. His heart was bleeding, yet he was powerless, because even he himself was suppressed by the miasma he had set up.

The Judge's reddened eyes stared fixedly at Li Zhuiyuan:

"Since you are so close to my Fengdou, why didn't you inform us in time!"

This was a true question. If they had known Li Zhuiyuan was so familiar with Fengdou's things, their strategy when they came would have been different.

At the very least, they wouldn't have foolishly copied that set of Fengdou things and handed a knife to this young man.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Did you give me a chance to inform you?"

Judge: "Now, it can still be mediated, let your people stop!"

Li Zhuiyuan: "Dream on."

Judge: "If you want to continue westward, do you know what what you did today actually means? Do you think you can still reach Fengdou safely!"

Li Zhuiyuan: "I wanted to take a car directly to Fengdou. You were the ones who started the trouble first. Now you're blaming me in return; that makes no sense."

Judge: "Young man, sometimes some things cannot be reasoned with purely by logic."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Hmm, I've always understood this."

Judge: "No, you don't understand. You don't know what a majestic and terrifying place the Yin Office truly is, and you know even less about the supreme power of my Great Emperor of Fengdu!"

Li Zhuiyuan: "You say that as if you understand it. I can tell you clearly: the Great Emperor knows I have obtained His true inheritance. When you came out, didn't the Great Emperor tell you?"

Judge: "You..."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Or is it that you came out to stop me not on the true instructions of the Great Emperor, but on your own initiative, keeping it from your superiors?"

Judge: "Even if you obtained the inheritance, so what? You, a young man of the yang realm, simply have no qualifications to go to Fengdou at this time!"

Li Zhuiyuan: "Then what about her, the Yin family bloodline?"

Judge: "What kind of joke the Yin family bloodline is, I don't believe you don't know!"

Li Zhuiyuan nodded. At this moment, he finally obtained some valuable Fengdou information.

Just as he and Zhao Yi had thought before, this attack on him and Zhao Yi's team did not come from the Great Emperor's direct instructions.

At least for now, if an transcendent existence like the Great Emperor stood completely on the opposite side of him and spared no cost to resist the backlash of the Heavenly Dao to take action against him, he would certainly be dead without a doubt.

But if the Great Emperor didn't take sides and just watched from high above, then his duel with the people under Him, although still difficult, was at least no longer unsolvable.

Li Zhuiyuan didn't believe the Great Emperor didn't know about the actions of His subordinates.

This river water was stirred up by the Great Emperor Himself; Yin Meng performing a sacrifice could communicate with the Great Emperor, and both sides had always maintained a friendly communication channel. Otherwise, when Zhao Yi sent the dog-lazy last time, the Great Emperor couldn't have shown emotional expressions.

Li Zhuiyuan now suspected that the Great Emperor was learning from the Heavenly Dao; the Heavenly Dao used him as a knife, and the Great Emperor also wanted to borrow his knife this time.

But as an existence whose word was law in Fengdu, a single imperial decree last time could wipe out a hidden family. Li Zhuiyuan didn't believe the Great Emperor had lost control over His subordinates.

It seemed that the true purpose could only be known after he reached Fengdou.

That was on the premise that he could reach Fengdou.

Because if there were further blocking and killing, there would no longer be a chance for him to manipulate things as he pleased like this.

It was mainly because the true bodies of these commanders and generals were not here, so he had no way to completely silence them.

The ghosts that came out of Fengdou later would surely know of his familiarity with Fengdou's inheritance.

At this time, the Judge raised his head, opened his mouth, and a ball of black mist sprayed out from his mouth, rushing straight upward.

The formation flag and ghost shadows above trembled accordingly.

This was because he knew the matter here could not be salvaged and intended to escape himself.

The blood mist in Li Zhuiyuan's right palm became even more intense; it could even be said that it was no longer blood mist, but blood beads, gathering behind the formation flag in his palm, making it exceptionally crimson.

"Boom!"

The first round of the black mist's impact failed to break through and had to be forced back into his body.

A crack appeared on the brow of the Judge's body.

He looked viciously at the young man.

The young man didn't look at him.

He actually should have left long ago, the moment he discovered he had controlled this miasma.

At that time, the ghost shadow formation flag overhead still had to suppress the four commanders and eight generals below separately, and the number allocated to him was not many.

Now, with Zhao Yi and the others killing the commanders and generals, Li Zhuiyuan was able to place more suppression power on this Judge.

Of course, even if he had attempted to leave at the first moment, Li Zhuiyuan could have stopped him; it would just have cost a bit more.

The Judge's body swayed, and after slapping the table, the black mist rushed upward again at an even more vigorous speed.

Li Zhuiyuan sat cross-legged, placed the formation flag in front of him, and gripped it with both hands.

"Boom!"

The young man's body swayed, but this miasma remained stable.

The second round of impact failed again.

The black mist returned to his body again, and large cracks appeared on the Judge's face.

Next was the third time. The Judge stood up abruptly, raised his arms, and let out a low roar.

The black mist was like a burning flame, whistling upward; before it even made contact, the miasma above split open a gap by itself.

This could be considered a desperate struggle.

Li Zhuiyuan chanted, the Liu family's Qi-Observing Technique stirred the surrounding Feng Shui, evolving his own Qi to resemble the Great Emperor. Behind the young man, a phantom appeared.

Actually, Li Zhuiyuan knew there was a Great Emperor's figure behind him; after all, he had the Great Emperor's inheritance. But the one behind him now was fake, yet it was enough to borrow the tiger's might.

The burning black mist's speed stalled, as if it had sensed a terrifying aura that made it despair, while the ghost shadows above collectively cheered at this moment, waving the formation flag with extra effort.

Sure enough, the Great Emperor's inheritance was only most suitable for the Great Emperor Himself to use.

From this, it could be seen that besides the Yin family's own lack of effort, the Great Emperor's inheritance simply not being suitable for "inheritance" was also an important reason for their decline.

After returning to his body again, the Judge's body began to crack, skin and flesh tearing from top to bottom, appearing as strips of "gullies." No fresh blood flowed out, but black flames darted up.

The Judge stood up and, bearing the huge pressure from above, walked toward Runsheng.

He took every step with great difficulty; at this rate, there was almost no threat to be seen.

Li Zhuiyuan guessed what he wanted to do, stood up, walked behind Runsheng, and Runsheng bent down very familiarly, carrying the young man on his back.

The young man's left hand covered the back of Runsheng's head; early on, he had helped Runsheng set up prohibitions in his body more than once to suppress the evil aura.

Now those prohibitions had long been broken through by Runsheng himself, but there were still remnants. Re-sealing the evil aura was impossible, but stirring the evil aura to a boil was simple.

"Brother Runsheng, it will hurt."

"Hmm."

After the Judge took many slow steps, his body tilted forward and he fell.

Cracking from his scalp, the whole person, as if skinned, wrapped in black flames, sped toward Runsheng.

Li Zhuiyuan withdrew his fingertips from the back of Runsheng's head, Runsheng pushed backward with his arms, the young man landed, and at the same time, the evil aura on Runsheng's body erupted rapidly, his eyes turning half-white.

Runsheng rushed up.

At this time, he had gained the ability to wrestle with the black mist through the evil aura around his body; at least the two sides were able to make contact.

The pain did not just stem from his own evil aura, but also from the agony of the Judge's soul body burning, equivalent to Runsheng also enduring the torment of soul burning.

But Runsheng said nothing, just pinning the black mist under him, twisting his legs, locking his arms, and using his waist as a lock.

The set of methods Old Man Shan taught him to deal with the dead was used here.

It was inappropriate and had little effect; after all, the opponent didn't have legs and feet like the dead for you to bind, but this gave Runsheng a psychological suggestion to endure the pain.

Li Zhuiyuan stood where he was, watching this scene, his face expressionless.

After a long stalemate, the black mist continuously weakened and shrank. After being compressed to a certain degree, the black karmic fire erupted rapidly. After paying a huge price, a ray of faint light managed to escape Runsheng's restraint and shot toward Li Zhuiyuan.

If it were a crossbow bolt shot in reality, Li Zhuiyuan would really feel it was very troublesome, because he was truly capable of being shot dead directly by a crossbow bolt now.

But this black light was different.

Runsheng stood up and let out a roar, wanting to rush toward Li Zhuiyuan, but was stopped by the young man raising his hand, signaling him not to panic.

Runsheng, in the "lost soul" state of evil aura eruption, didn't recognize anyone, but he would instinctively listen to the young man.

"Hum!"

The black arrow sank into Li Zhuiyuan's brow.

But before that karmic fire could ignite the young man, karmic fire rose from the young man's right palm, pulling all the power that was prepared to wreak havoc in his body over.

The young man had long played with this karmic fire; back then, relying on this hand, he had crawled on Old Lady Bian's back and roasted her to death alive.

With a casual flick, a pool of karmic fire landed, burning in the void for a while before gradually extinguishing.

Zhao Yi, who was currently milking the third Ghost Commander, turned his head at this time and looked at Li Zhuiyuan:

"Surnamed Li, be careful, there is... inside."

Zhao Yi possessed the ability to see through intentions; he had clearly seen just now that within that black light beam, there was also a cluster of consciousness wrapped inside, coming from the Judge's consciousness.

When it came to playing "borrowing a corpse to resurrect a soul," ordinary wandering ghosts were really not as skilled as these guys with an establishment, because they could legally requisition living bodies to complete their work on weekdays.

If the one surnamed Li was "borrowed," then the fun would be huge.

Li Zhuiyuan pressed his right hand down, signaling Zhao Yi not to worry.

Zhao Yi said "Heh," realizing that his reminder just now was purely superfluous. Last time at Dujiangyan, after that evil spirit skilled in tampering with memories drilled into the one surnamed Li's body, it was instead digested by the one surnamed Li.

In terms of self-consciousness, the one surnamed Li seemed to have a special talent.

It was just that Zhao Yi hadn't experienced the time at the Bai He Guarding Zhenjun Temple on the seabed of Zhoushan together. If he knew that even the Pudu Guarding Zhenjun, an avatar of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, hadn't been able to take advantage in the consciousness confrontation, he would probably be even more shocked by the young man's ability in this regard.

Li Zhuiyuan closed his eyes.

The Judge appeared in the fields; wherever he passed, the crops on both sides appeared gray and defeated.

He arrived at the dam, looked around, wanting to turn this place into a piece of gloomy nothingness, but stopped halfway through the transformation. Strands of green lotus flowers grew and bloomed in the cracks of the bricks and tiles, in the cracks of the cement floor.

The Judge arrived at the basement and stood before the iron door: "You are hiding here!"

He raised his fist and smashed forward.

The iron door rang out with a bang but was not broken.

The true body, who was holding a carving knife and carving in the basement, stopped the movement in his hands.

If it were the "inner demon," which was Li Zhuiyuan, coming in, the true body would be able to detect it in advance and make a timely response.

But with an external consciousness entering, he had no way to get a warning.

The true body knew that it was Li Zhuiyuan who had deliberately left a flaw, allowing this Judge to enter.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"

The iron door was suffering continuous bombardment, tottering.

The Judge sensed and confirmed that this young man's true body consciousness was hiding here.

As long as he destroyed it, he could complete the "borrowing a corpse to resurrect a soul" on the young man.

Above, the lotus flowers were still blooming continuously, dispelling and washing away the gloomy atmosphere left by the Judge.

Until, the lotus flowers bloomed here.

The Judge raised his foot and crushed the green lotus that had just bloomed under his feet.

As the juice splashed, it attached to his body and ignited his torso.

"This is..."

This was the true body green lotus of Pudu Guarding Zhenjun, which could not be separated from Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, and the latter had once made a great vow: Hell is not empty, I vow not to become a Buddha.

Essentially, it was competing for the right to speak in the Yin realm, so naturally, it had special abilities targeting Yin souls.

When Li Zhuiyuan obtained the power of the green lotus, the true body obtained the lotus pedestal. Although they were taken separately, they were still pieced back into a set.

With this thing here, other people might not matter, but for existences like Yin souls to want to come in and make trouble, they were innately suppressed.

Furthermore, before this Judge came in, he had been "exploited" layer by layer by Li Zhuiyuan; now he was a phoenix that had lost its feathers and was not as good as a chicken.

"Creak..."

The iron door was opened, and the true body walked out.

The burning Judge wanted to pounce, but in the next instant, green lotus flowers appeared in front, completely wrapping him.

"Slap! Slap! Slap!"

The true body held the carving knife and leisurely sliced open the green lotus flowers one by one.

The juice splashed onto the Judge layer by layer, and the fire raged.

The Judge let out a wail; the wailing sound was not unified, and the tone was very mixed.

The true body turned sideways and looked at the stairwell; Li Zhuiyuan's figure appeared there.

Li Zhuiyuan's gaze fell on the carving knife in the true body's hand.

"You are obsessed with carving."

The true body didn't answer.

"What are you carving in the basement?"

The true body still didn't answer.

"Carving a group portrait?"

The true body pointed at the Judge in the green flames and asked: "Do you know which Judge he is?"

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: "I don't know. I only judged his identity from his attire earlier, but specifically which one, and whether it is truly the same name as the character in the myth, I don't know."

True body: "The trouble is a bit big; he is a Judge, yet he is not a Judge."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Oh?"

The true body was not afraid of the flames, walked up, held the carving knife and kept dividing, and pieces of consciousness were decomposed like a butcher selling meat.

True body: "He is a collective, or rather, a representative."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Hmm."

True body: "The people of Fengdu are observing you; more accurately, it is a kind of investigation."

Li Zhuiyuan: "If they didn't know I could master this miasma, the result of this investigation would really be hard to say."

True body: "For them, if the investigation doesn't pass, then you can go die, and there is no need for investigation.

If it passes, then you have the qualifications to communicate and talk with them.

Go talk to them in reality; not everyone resists you and wants you dead.

If you want to protect your subordinates more safely and complete this wave, then you must learn to communicate."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Their collective wants to kill me."

True body: "This is very normal; any force will instinctively reject outsiders."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Remind you of one thing."

True body: "You say."

Li Zhuiyuan: "It's fine if you like carving, but pull some energy back."

True body: "I did it on purpose. I deliberately suppressed my growth, not letting myself progress, otherwise, you would habitually treat me as a staff officer.

You are the inner demon, I am the true body; our relationship should not be so intimate.

In a life-and-death crisis, joining forces reluctantly is enough; on weekdays, visit less."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Think I'm disturbing you?"

True body: "The fish pond over there is dug, and the fish are raised. When you need to throw away garbage, go throw it over there yourself, just treat it as feeding the fish, don't come here.

Otherwise, I can also initiate a struggle for control of this body from time to time, or let you recall that feeling of mental coldness and detachment from back then."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Alright, continue with your conspiracy, hope it's exciting."

True body: "Live well, continue to be strong; my conspiracy layout is tied up because of your lack of effort and progress."

Li Zhuiyuan turned and left.

The true body raised his foot and stomped out the flames on the ground.

It walked back to the basement and closed the iron door.

On the latest workbench, what was being carved was the statue of this Judge, which was already more than half finished.

The carving knife was raised and fell, the statue cracked and returned to a lump of clay.

"What garbage."

Li Zhuiyuan in reality opened his eyes. In front of him was Runsheng, who was looking at him with concern. Runsheng didn't dare to come forward to touch him because there was still evil aura remaining on his body, fearing it would burn the young man.

"I'm fine, Brother Runsheng."

Runsheng nodded and sat down, the white in his eyes gradually fading.

On the other side, Zhao Yi and the others also finally completed the weeding out of all the Ghost Commanders and Ghost Generals.

Everyone was panting and drenched in sweat.

Tan Wenbin: "First time experiencing that even if the enemy sits there and lets you kill them, it's still so exhausting."

Zhao Yi's complexion was pale, his lips and eyes deep purple. He patted Lin Shu You's shoulder with his hand.

Lin Shu You turned his head to look at him, surprised: "What's wrong with you?"

Zhao Yi reached out, took the peach blossoms on his chest off one by one, gathered a handful, handed them to Lin Shu You, and said:

"Hold them in your mouth, and after you digest them, remember to return the petals to me."

Lin Shu You took the petals. The moment he touched them, he heard the Tongzi's excited shouting in his heart:

"How did he do it, how did he do it!"

Immediately after, the Tongzi urged: "Quick, hold it, quick, hold it!"

Lin Shu You sent a petal into his mouth, then immediately raised his head. While his body convulsed, he let out a long moan; this was comfortable.

High-quality pure ghost qi was like nectar and jade liquid to the Tongzi, which could directly nourish his soul body.

Zhao Yi looked at Tan Wenbin and asked: "Zhuangzhuang, do you want to try a piece to see the effect?"

Tan Wenbin shook his head: "This is ghost qi, it will pollute my spirit beast."

Zhao Yi: "Pollution is not to be feared, as long as it can become more powerful."

Tan Wenbin: "Ten years later, they will have their merit bodies restored to freedom. If they become full of ghost qi, they will have to continue living a life of hiding."

Zhao Yi: "There's a reason why the one surnamed Li is willing to take you to the college entrance exam."

Tan Wenbin: "Aren't you the same."

Zhao Yi smiled, then pointed to his own chest and said to Lin Shu You: "Eat slowly, don't rush, after you finish eating, I'll squeeze some more for you; my heart is still black!"

After the instructions, Zhao Yi walked toward the young man.

At this time, the young man was standing beside the Judge's body. The Judge was dead, but his body did not disappear like those commanders and generals, but was preserved.

Zhao Yi: "Which Judge in the folk stories is this exactly?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "A hodgepodge."

"Tsk..." Zhao Yi bent down and began to check the body, "Already an empty shell."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Purify him."

Zhao Yi held the copper coin sword and swept it over the body. The body vaporized rapidly. In the mist, a white bone of a young child was revealed.

The white bone was wearing a necklace around its neck, a jade ring on its fingertip, a bracelet on its wrist, and a gold lock on its ankle.

Zhao Yi: "Grave goods, truly rich."

He reached out wanting to touch the necklace, then realized something, retracted his hand, and said: "Brother Xiaoyuan, you are the boss now, you do it."

Li Zhuiyuan reached out and grasped the necklace. A warm feeling rippled out. On the young child's white bone, a majestic human face emerged, and vaguely visible behind it was a towering palace.

Being able to own a palace in the Yin Office meant that his status was absolutely far above a Judge.

And although the image revealed was blurry, it could match the divine statues worshipped and placed in many temples.

Zhao Yi gasped in his heart.

"Can talk for a while..."

The tone was high and mighty.

Before the opponent could finish speaking, Li Zhuiyuan let go of the necklace and went to touch the ring.

Another new figure appeared from the young child, still a palace behind, and the image changed.

"You are quite good..."

Zhao Yi bit his lip heavily.

Next, the young man continued to touch from the bracelet all the way down.

"Not impossible..."

"Say it in advance..."

"Have words in advance..."

They clearly all had things to say, but Li Zhuiyuan just glanced at their images and didn't listen to what they wanted to say at all.

After probing everything, the young man took off all the jewelry, gathered them together, placed them on the ground, and stacked them into a pile.

"Brother Runsheng, Xiao Hei's blood."

Runsheng opened his backpack and took out a small bottle, which contained the "travel expenses" gifted by Xiao Hei before leaving home.

Li Zhuiyuan pulled out the bottle stopper, turned the bottle mouth downward, and black dog blood flowed out, all poured onto this pile of jewelry.

"Sizzle sizzle..."

Like cooking oil with a raging fire, the damage was not high, but the insult was extremely strong.

For existences in the Yin realm, this act was equivalent to urinating on the face of a living person in the yang realm.

Zhao Yi said in astonishment: "Are you crazy, this is the Ten Kings..."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Compared to you sending the dog-lazy, it doesn't count as an offense."

Zhao Yi: "I didn't know that, that was a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!"

Li Zhuiyuan said calmly: "When acting as a knife, one must have the awareness of being a knife. Do you think we have the qualifications to negotiate on our own?"

Zhao Yi: "Logically I can understand, but behaviorally it's still too shocking."

Li Zhuiyuan pulled out an evil-breaking talisman.

Zhao Yi opened his mouth to stop him: "Don't, wait!"

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Zhao Yi: "Still holding onto fantasies?"

Zhao Yi gave a "Haha," took the Yellow River shovel from Runsheng's hand, first spat a mouthful of phlegm at the pile of jewelry, then raised his foot and stepped on it, squeezed it back and forth, and finally closed his feet and smashed down fiercely with a shovel, smashing the jewelry into pieces.

After doing all this, Zhao Yi staggered back a few steps, exhausted, and stabilized his figure by leaning on the shovel,

sighing:

"Surnamed Li, tell me, can we still reach Fengdou alive this time?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "If you commit suicide on the spot, you can report directly, and go faster."

Zhao Yi: "How are you so proficient? Our river-walking time difference isn't big, how long have you been a knife?"

Li Zhuiyuan didn't answer, because he was highly likely to have been one from the start.

Zhao Yi: "Alright, everyone, pack up your things, we need to find another means of transportation."

Li Zhuiyuan reminded: "Return the copper coin sword to me."

Zhao Yi: "My Zhao family's sword, why should I give it to you?"

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Zhao Yi and blinked.

Zhao Yi: "Pfft, what are you looking at? Once I get it in my hand, it's mine. If you want treasures, go get them yourself with your own ability!"

Li Zhuiyuan nodded with satisfaction and said:

"Good."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 276 =====